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Thursday, December 17, 2015

Traditional Chinese Medicine: Daring or dangerous

Today’s food and medicine industries are losing trust with
consumers who regrettably are misled by TV an endless queue of utterly
unqualified food and health gurus who promulgate pure unadulterated nonsense as
to the shortcomings of modern food and medicine and the wonders of specific
foods and traditional medicinal remedies. Let’s start with food remedies.
Manuka honey is a honey produced from the pollen of Manuka trees. It is
reported to contain an active ingredient MTG (methylglyoxal), which apparently
has approved beneficial effects when its highly purified form is used as an
adjuvant in skin wound healing[1].
Putting it in your porridge is no good! In fact, the available governmental
data is that for every kilo of honey produced from the New Zealand Manuka tree,
an amazing 7 kilos is sold worldwide. So when you buy Manuka honey (usually 6-9
times the price of regular honey) there is a 6 in 7 chance you are being conned
(a probability of 86%). But of course if you really want to challenge your
beliefs in the gurus, can I recommend you read my Hunza blog (July 22nd,
2014) and if you still believe in the wonders of Hunza water[2]
you can get a great deal on Amazon[3]:
”Crystal Energy "Hunza Water" Buy 2, Get 1 Free!” Only $87.50 a
pair!!

Turning to Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), the humorous
side evaporates in light of the very disturbing findings on TCM by a consortium
of Australian researchers[4].
They examined 26 TCMs using state of the art analytical equipment and their
results can be considered in three areas

1.The GENOMIC analysis: Sophisticated DNA analysis
showed that many samples contained traces of animal species such as dog, cat
(including Snow Leopard, an endangered species), frog, rodent, viper, and cow. In
addition, many banned plant species were detected: Asarum or wild ginger is a
source of Aristolochic Acid, a potent carcinogen; Ephedra, notorious for its
use in slimming products where it is purported to act through increased cardiac
output; Apocynum or Dogbane/Indian hemp which is poisonous with severe effects
on the cardiac system.

2.The DRUG analysis: Many drugs were detected
which have no origins in TCM. These include the antibiotic amoxicillin; the
anti-clotting agent, warfarin; ephedrine used to treat asthma and hay fever and
drugs used to treat anxiety in veterinary practices.

3.The CHEMICAL analysis: Arsenic, lead and cadmium
at levels well in excess of food grade permitted maxima were widely detected.
Multiple drug adulterants were also detected. One TCM had 10 times the
permitted maximum levels of the poisonous compound arsenic.

Conclusion: Anyone
who thinks that the word “traditional” or the accepted centuries old
therapeutic use of a product in the absence of proof of purpose constitutes a vote
in safety is quite simply naïve. It is precisely because modern food and
medicines are so tightly regulated that they are totally safe to use and where
necessary, proven to FDA standards to be effective. This paper raises very
serious concerns not just about safety but about fraud. The idea that Snow
Leopard was detectable in some samples is ecologically horrific. This beautiful
species is the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

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"Ever seen a fat fox ~ Human obesity explored"

About Me

I graduated from University College Dublin in 1971 with an Masters in Agricultural Chemistry, took a PhD at Sydney University in 1976 and joined the University of Southampton Medical School as a lecturer in human nutrition in 1977. In 1984 I returned to Ireland to take up a post at the Department of Clinical Medicine Trinity College Dublin and was appointed as professor of human nutrition. In 2006 I left Trinity and moved to University College Dublin as Director of the UCD Institute of Food and Health. I am a former President of the Nutrition Society and I've served on several EU and UN committees on nutrition and Health. I have published over 350+ peer reviewed scientific papers in Public Health Nutrition and Molecular Nutrition and am principal investigator on several national and EU projects (www.ucd.ie/jingo; www.food4me.org). My popular books are "Something to chew on ~ challenging controversies in human nutrition" and "Ever seen a fat fox: human obesity explored"